Amid a critical hearing in the Bryan Kohberger murder trial, an 8-month-old police video is gaining attention for a woman who has stated she will be a key witness in the case.
“I’m a DoorDash driver,” the woman told a police officer during an unrelated traffic stop in Pullman, Washington, last year, before appearing to say, “I saw Bryan there.”
Kohberger is accused of murdering University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022. Not guilty pleas have been entered on his behalf.
On Wednesday, Judge Steven Hippler heard a new request from defense attorneys to postpone the trial due to a recent episode of NBC’s “Dateline” that, they argue, contained information obtained through unauthorized leaks.
Hippler stated that he will issue a decision “in short order” on the defense’s request to postpone Kohberger’s trial date, but that “it’s likely you’re going to trial on the date indicated.”
The driver’s police interview
A videotaped interview with an officer on September 4, 2024, shows the 44-year-old woman being questioned following an arrest for allegedly driving under the influence of prescription medication. A bodycam video was uploaded to a YouTube channel last year, but it only recently gained traction after her reference to the Moscow murders was discovered.
The woman’s name, which CNN is not publishing because she is not named in court documents in the Kohberger case and has not publicly identified herself, matches the initials of a DoorDash driver who delivered to Kernodle early on November 13, 2022.
The court has sealed the final witness lists, so it is unclear whether she will be called to testify, but Kaylee Goncalves’ father, Steve Goncalves, told the Idaho Statesman on Monday that a private investigator informed him that the DoorDash driver was a woman. Steve Goncalves did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment Wednesday.
The woman, who claimed to have taken a prescription painkiller, told an officer that her fragile emotional state was caused by stress from her involvement in the extremely high-profile case, as well as physical ailments and what she described as PTSD following her husband’s murder in Moscow in 2013.
“Now I have to testify in the big murder case, too, because I’m a DoorDash driver, so yeah,” she told me.
When the officer asked her to specify which case, she said, “The murder case with the college girls.”
The woman was released from custody and given a court date. Court records obtained by the Idaho Statesman confirmed statements made in the video that the woman was pulled over for driving with expired tags. Pullman is approximately 10 miles from Moscow.
Last year, the defense objected to introducing DoorDash records as evidence at trial. In a response last year, prosecutors emphasized the significance of evidence regarding a delivery made to the crime scene on the morning of the murders, stating that it provides a timeline of events prior to the homicides and supports the testimony of state witnesses.
The driver’s testimony could be critical because, according to a court document from prosecutors, Kernodle was the only person awake in the house when her DoorDash order arrived just before 4 a.m., minutes before investigators believe the killings began.
CNN reached out to the woman’s email addresses for comment. On Wednesday, her home phone went unanswered, and her cell phone was disconnected.
DoorDash did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Wednesday. The local court clerk’s office and Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy declined to provide information about the driver’s DUI case.
Kohberger’s pretrial hearing
During a brief proceeding on Wednesday, lead defense attorney Anne Taylor listed “challenges and difficulties” in this case over the past 2.5 years, telling the court that “the record is replete with notice that we are not prepared to go to trial.”
Taylor cited venue issues, media coverage, and 68 terabytes of information to review as some of the issues her team has faced while defending Kohberger.
Kohberger’s trial, which has been delayed numerous times due to disputes over evidence and witnesses, as well as a change of venue to the state capital of Boise, is now set to begin on August 11.
Taylor specifically mentioned the “Dateline” episode, stating that it “wasn’t just a one-time deal back in May, it continues to be talked about.”
Hippler ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to preserve records following the apparent leak last month, saying it was “imperative to attempt to see that the source of such leak is identified and held to account.”
“There’s more going on than just what happened in the ‘Dateline’ episode. Taylor revealed that a book about the murders will be released in a few weeks, followed by an Amazon Prime docuseries. She argued that media coverage will taint the jury pool.
The prosecution claimed that postponing the trial would put them “at the whim of the media.”
“We know there will be a lot of publicity, regardless of when the trial takes place,” said prosecutor Joshua Hurwit. “The issue is whether the court, using the procedures it has established or maybe even modifying them as the court wants to, can seat a panel of impartial jurors.”
“That is possible in this case, despite the challenges.”
In addition to the potential pushback on the trial’s start date, Hippler will consider a defense request to allow them to present evidence of a “alternate perpetrator” in the killings. The judge sealed the details of the defense request.
